Landfill

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much waste was sent to landfill outside the local authority of origin in the last period for which figures are available, broken down by local authority of reception.

Joan Ruddock: holding answer 19 June 2008
	 I am arranging for the information requested to be placed in the House Library.
	The table provides data on inter local authority movements of waste for disposal to landfill in 2006, which is the most current data set available. The data relates to all types of waste deposited in landfill, including inert, hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.
	Environment Agency data come from site input returns provided by landfill operators. Providing information on the origin of waste is not mandatory. This is reflected in the 'not codeable' category, which shows the quantity of waste that does not have an identified origin.

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency: Data Protection

Greg Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport in what circumstances the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is permitted to reveal the details which it holds on individual citizens to third parties unrelated to the Department of Transport.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) may disclose information held on its records where it is lawfully permitted to do so, and where the provisions of the Data Protection and Human Rights Act may be met.
	A full download of the driver and vehicle databases is provided daily to the National Police Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) for inclusion on the Police National Computer (PNC).
	Information held on the driver record (i.e. details of driver entitlement to drive, endorsements or photographic images) is released on a case by case basis to the other Government Departments only when DVLA is satisfied that Data Protection and legal obligations are met.
	Information held on the vehicle register (including vehicle keeper details) may also be disclosed in the same circumstances. In addition, vehicle information may be disclosed under Regulation 27 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002. This regulation permits the release of vehicle information to the police, to local authorities investigating an offence or a decriminalised parking contravention and to anybody who can demonstrate 'reasonable cause' for that information. All requests are made on an individual, case by case basis.
	The term 'reasonable cause' is not defined in the legislation. However, the following list details the circumstances that have previously been considered to be a 'reasonable cause'.
	safety recall by vehicle manufacturer— to enable the manufacturer, or an agent acting on their behalf, to trace keepers to ensure that a vehicle is checked and any modifications are made;
	abandoned vehicles—to help trace keepers who abandon their vehicles on private property outside the control of local authorities;
	minor hit and run incidents—to help trace keepers of vehicles involved in minor hit and run incidents not warranting a full police investigation. Circumstances could include incidents of personal injury or damage to property;
	toll/road charges—information may be released to help trace keepers of vehicles that have failed to pay road/tunnel/bridge charges;
	drive-offs—to help trace keepers of vehicles that drive off without paying for goods/services. Circumstances could include incidents of failing to pay for petrol or repairs for a vehicle;
	unauthorised parking on private land—to help landlords or their agents to trace keepers who obstruct access, contravene parking restrictions or trespass on private land;
	suspected fraud—to establish keepers of vehicles where insurance claims have been received;
	investigations into suspected vehicle 'clocking'—to confirm if a vehicle's recorded mileage is genuine;
	enforcement of traffic related offences outside the UK—to UK agents acting on behalf of non-UK authorities to pursue keepers for non payment of penalties for parking and toll road violations incurred outside the UK;
	stolen cheque payments—to investigate payments related to a vehicle using stolen cheques;
	tracing company assets—to a liquidator appointed by the court to confirm the assets of a company following insolvency;
	confirmation of keeper details to ensure seizure of correct vehicle by bailiff/debt collection agents under court order;
	person acting as an executor of a deceased's estate to confirm vehicle assets.
	Five commercial companies are provided with a bulk download of the vehicle data, excluding vehicle keeper data, to provide vehicle checking services. This information is updated periodically and matched with police and insurance industry data so that those considering purchasing a vehicle may confirm that the vehicle is as presented and is not stolen, scrapped or seriously damaged.

Fairtrade Initiative

Michael Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the Answer of 7 February 2008,  Official Report, column 1417W, on the Fair Trade initiative, how much her Department spent on refreshments for official departmental meetings and engagements in each of the last three financial years; and what percentage of this expenditure was on Fair Trade products.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The requested information is as follows:
	
		
			   £ 
			 2007-08 1,021,692.68 
			 2006-07 984,348.28 
			 2005-06 1,038,130.23 
		
	
	The Department for Transport does not centrally record the quantities or value of Fairtrade products purchased or the proportions they constitute of total spend and this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, at our main London HQ building all tea and coffee served as part of the hospitality service is sourced from Fairtrade suppliers.

Theatre

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps his Department is taking to increase access to theatres in the English regions, with particular reference to rural areas.

Margaret Hodge: The Department's support for the theatre is channelled through Arts Council England. In recognition of their work in giving people in rural areas access to high-quality performing arts, the Arts Council will provide above-inflation increases in grants for 2008-09 to 2010-11 to a number of local authorities and touring companies. Several arts centres serving rural areas, and offering high-quality performing arts programmes also received increases in the Arts Council's last investment strategy. The Arts Council has also increased its funding to the National Rural Touring Forum, the umbrella body for rural touring circuits, by 50 per cent. in 2008-09.
	Through its Thrive! programme, the Arts Council has allocated over £1.7 million of lottery funds to support better collaboration within the sector to improve understanding of existing audiences and access for new audiences; and over 25 per cent. of local strategic partnerships (many of them rural) have prioritised increasing engagement in the arts in their new local area agreements.

Joint Economic and Trade Committee: India

Ashok Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what progress has been made in establishing the Joint Economic and Trade Committee with India since the joint declaration with India of 20th September 2004.

Gareth Thomas: The UK-India Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) held its inaugural meeting on 13 January 2005 in New Delhi, co-chaired by the then Secretary of State for the Department of Trade and Industry and the Indian Minister for Commerce and Industry (Shri Kamal Nath).
	Since then the ministerial meetings have been held annually, alternating between London and New Delhi—the most recent on 13 December 2007 in London chaired by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Mr. Hutton) and Minister Nath.

Carers: Finance

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will break down by budget heading the cost of carrying out the National Carers Review.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 18 June 2008
	 We undertook an extensive consultation across government and with stakeholders in carrying out the National carers review. The cost of carrying this out was £665,999 exclusive of VAT.
	This figure can be broken down as follows:
	£99,693—cost of nine regional events;
	£114,897—cost of four deliberative events, (including one specifically for young carers); and
	£451,409—cost of the web consultation and research. This figure can be broken down as follows:
	£32,525—developing and design of the online consultation;
	£26,112—design and production of Ideas Tree toolkit and PDF;
	£6,530—input, coding and analysis of the first 1,000 paper responses;
	£336,342—research element of the nine regional events and two deliberative events; and
	£49,900—inclusion of members of the public in deliberative events.

Environmental Health

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health on how many occasions environmental health officers closed premises for public health reasons in each region of England in each year since 1997.

Dawn Primarolo: The Food Standards Agency (FSA) hold information on the numbers of food establishments closed by environmental health officers (by emergency prohibition notices/orders or closure on a voluntary basis) because of their imminent risk to food safety. We can supply this information on an England only basis as we do not collate the information regionally. Non-food establishments may be subject to closure for public health reasons, but data on this would not be collected by the FSA.
	Local authority environmental health officers have powers under food safety regulations to close food premises through either an emergency prohibition notice (or order), or a voluntary closure. In a small number of cases, an emergency notice may be served prohibiting the use of a specified piece of equipment; however, the food business may continue to operate. This information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of food establishments in England subject to:  2006-07  2005-06  2004-05  2003  2002  2001  2000  1999  1998  1997 
			 Emergency prohibition notice/order 241 221 301 215 151 141 139 138 99 85 
			 Voluntary closures 498 385 328 303 262 209 174 248 311 308 
			 Total 739 606 629 518 413 350 313 386 410 393 
			  Note: Data were collected on a financial year basis from 2004-05 but on a calendar year basis prior to this.

Alcoholic Drinks: Young People

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prosecutions there were of defendants aged 10 to 17 years for being drunk and disorderly in each London borough in each year since 1997.

Vernon Coaker: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 10 June 2008,  Official Report, column 189W.
	Data broken down by London borough is not held by the Ministry of Justice.

Human Trafficking: Children

Anthony Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the Answers of 11 June 2008,  Official Report, column 347W, and 3 June 2008,  Official Report, column 883W, on human trafficking: children, if she will  (a) confirm that a full copy of the report will be placed in the Library and  (b) publish the report before the end of June.

Vernon Coaker: holding answer 23 June 2008
	I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 11 June to this question. I can confirm a copy of the summary report will be placed in the Library but cannot say when it will be published as the report is being finalised by CEOP.

Hunting

Vincent Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many cases have been reported of threatening or abusive behaviour towards hunt monitors by supporters of hunting with dogs in the last 12 months; what steps are being taken to prevent illegal hunting activity and to enforce the provisions of the Hunting Act 2004; and if she will make a statement.

Vernon Coaker: Data on threatening or abusive behaviour towards hunt monitors are not collected centrally.
	The police have stated their commitment to enforcing the Hunting Act. The Government continue to meet with interested stakeholders and to work closely with the police, through the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) to identify what more can be done to ensure the Hunting Act is effectively and appropriately enforced and to improve detection of illegal hunting.
	ACPO have conducted a survey of local police forces' response to enforcement of the Hunting Act which will be used to inform practical best practice guidance ahead of the start of the hunting season. The Government are also working with ACPO on ways to raise awareness of issues surrounding enforcement of the Hunting Act across the police service, and to communicate the importance of visible enforcement to community policing in rural areas and to the maintenance of public order.
	We are also working closely with the Attorney-General about what more can be done to secure prosecutions where evidence has been presented of Hunting Act offences being committed.
	29 individuals have now been convicted of offences under the Hunting Act 2004 which does show that the legislation is enforceable when the evidence presents itself.

Identity and Passport Service: Databases

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent estimate she has made of the error rate in each of the databases operated by the Identity and Passport Service.

Meg Hillier: Currently, replication checks exist between the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) regional and central system databases. These replication checks-mean that all IPS issued books are accounted for and no errors exist.
	IPS does receive external feeds of passport data from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the processing of these onto the central database creates errors, and an error recycling process. The current error rates are 1.22 per cent.

Departmental Trade Unions

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster which trades unions represent members of staff in  (a) the Cabinet Office,  (b) its agency and  (c) the Prime Minister's Office.

Tom Watson: The Prime Minister's Office forms part of the Cabinet Office. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Prospect and the First Division Association (PDA) have a partnership agreement with the Cabinet Office and represent different sections of Cabinet Office staff.

Absent Voting: Fraud

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many successful prosecutions of postal ballot fraud there were in each region of the UK in each of the last 11 years.

Bridget Prentice: The information requested is not held centrally in this form. However, information on the overall number of persons found guilty of various fraud related offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983 between 1998 and 2006 is set out in the following table.
	
		
			  Persons found guilty in England and Wales of various fraud related offences under the Representation of the People Act 1983 
			   Number 
			 1998 6 
			 1999 5 
			 2000 1 
			 2001 10 
			 2002 1 
			 2003 0 
			 2004 3 
			 2005 5 
			 2006 1 
			  Notes: 1. Convictions do not necessarily occur in the same year that proceedings are initiated. 2. Offences under the Representation of the People Act include tampering with nomination and ballot papers etc. making false declarations as to election expenses, bribery, treating, undue influence and personation offences. 3. Figures for 2002 exclude any cases in Staffordshire. 
		
	
	We are also aware that other prosecutions relating to electoral matters have been made under separate provisions, such those relating to forgery or conspiracy to defraud.
	The Electoral Commission have plans in place to analyse the Crown Prosecution files on electoral fraud post 2006. This process will help to provide an up to date record of the number of successful electoral fraud prosecutions.
	We are continuing to work closely with the Electoral Commission, police, political parties and returning officers to raise awareness and strengthen systems to ensure that fraud is detected and prosecuted.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  if he will bring forward proposals to establish ring-fenced funding for electoral registration officers;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of trends in the annual expenditure of local authority electoral registration officers over the last 10 years.

Bridget Prentice: There are no proposals to ring-fence funding for electoral registration activities. Funding is included in the local authority formula grant issued by central government. Once these funds are allocated, decisions on how it is utilised are a matter for the local authorities concerned. However, there is also a parallel protocol, which states that unless there is an exceptional reason to do so, money provided to local authorities for discharging their statutory responsibilities should not be 'ring-fenced'.
	There has been no assessment of the trends in the annual expenditure of local authority electoral registration officers over the past 10 years.
	However, section 67 of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 allows the Electoral Commission to set and monitor performance standards for electoral services. In developing standards the Commission undertook a data collection exercise with all electoral registration officers (EROs) in Great Britain following the 2007 annual canvass and published results on April 30 2008. At the same time EROs were asked to supply financial data by 31 July 2008. These results are expected to be published by autumn 2008 and should give us a better understanding of the costs of electoral registration in Great Britain for the last financial year.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will take steps to collect information on  (a) the revenue raised by local authorities from the sale of electoral registers and  (b) the use to which such monies are put; and if he will make a statement.

Bridget Prentice: The Government do not intend to take steps to collect information on the revenue raised from the sale of electoral registers. The fees charged for the sale of the registers are set with a view towards recovery of the costs of administration. Local authorities do not sell copies of the electoral register for profit, as governed by The Representation of the People Regulations 2001 (as amended in 2002).

Polling Stations: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications for grants to ensure disabled access at polling stations were made by Warrington borough council in each of the last three years; and how much was awarded on each occasion.

Bridget Prentice: The Electoral Claims Unit have confirmed that no applications have been received from Warrington borough council for grants to ensure or improve disabled access at polling stations.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Research

John MacDougall: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills if he will increase expenditure on research into the biomedical causes and consequences of myalgic encephalopathy.

Ian Pearson: holding answer 23 June 2008
	The Medical Research Council is one of the main agencies through which the Government support medical and clinical research. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) is a strategic priority area for the MRC and the Council is continuing to promote research in this area. The MRC does not have set budgets for specific illnesses and research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available, The MRC welcomes applications for support into any aspect of human health and these are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the scientific quality of the proposals made.
	The MRC currently supports a number of studies in CFS/ME, as follows:
	Professor K. Bhui, Queen Mary and Westfield College—chronic fatigue and ethnicity (£162,000).
	Dr. C. Clark, Centre for Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine—general and specific risk markers and preventive factors for chronic fatigue and irritable bowel syndrome (funding approved in November 2007, £367,000).
	Professor A. J. Weardon, University of Manchester—randomised controlled trial of nurse led self-help treatment for primary care patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (£743,000).
	Professor P. D. White et al, Queen Mary and Westfieid College—The PACE Trial: a RCT of CBT, graded exercise, adaptive pacing and usual medical care for the chronic fatigue syndrome (£2.07 million).

Departmental Sick Pay

Mark Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much sick pay to staff in his Department and its predecessor cost in the last five years for which figures are available.

David Lammy: Due to the wide range of posts and salary points in my Department, the actual cost of sick pay to staff in the Department could be obtained only at disproportionate cost The Department's general policy for full-time staff is to pay sickness absence on full pay for up to 182 days, followed by sickness absence on half pay for up to 183 days. Sickness absence is unpaid once entitlement to full and/or half pay has been exhausted, unless HR approves payment of sick pay at pension rate.

Departmental Trade Unions

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which trades unions represent members of staff in  (a) his Department and  (b) its agencies.

David Lammy: There are currently three trade unions recognised in the Department and its agencies and who represent members of my staff. They are the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, the PDA representing senior staff and Prospect representing specialists such as information officers, economists, statisticians and accountants.

English Language: Education

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills pursuant to the answer of 3 December 2007,  Official Report, column 748W, on English language: education, whether he has assessed the effectiveness of the changes introduced to the provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages; and if he will make a statement.

Bill Rammell: The intention behind the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) measures which were introduced from August 2007 was to refocus funding on priority groups of vulnerable learners. We expect ESOL funding in 2007/08 to remain broadly similar to previous years at around £300 million.
	The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) plans to undertake analysis of ESOL data captured through their individual learner record (ILR). This analysis will draw out patterns of delivery in 2007/08 compared to 2006/07, however, this can only be undertaken once full year data is available in October 2008. Any earlier analysis on partial data would require increased assumptions and caveats making the results less robust.
	In addition, I also commissioned an independent impact assessment report. The final report is expected later this month, however, initial feedback suggests a very mixed picture across England with some areas reporting successful engagement with the new ESOL funding measures and others less so.
	As a result of the consultation process, we expect to introduce further changes from September 2009. The consultation has shown broad support for the proposal that ESOL funding should be more specifically targeted to foster community cohesion and integration in our communities. We are developing proposals that will give greater flexibility, more consideration of local needs, and importantly, more of a focus on helping build cohesion in our communities.

Carbon Emissions: Finance

David Kidney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made towards the development of a carbon budget for 2009; which Minister is leading the work on the development of the carbon budget; and if he will make a statement.

Angela Eagle: The Government continues to work to ensure the successful passage of the Climate Change Bill, which will create a statutory duty for the Government to set and meet five-year carbon budgets. The Government welcomed the formation in February of the independent Committee on Climate Change in "shadow", non-statutory form, and looks forward to receiving the Committee's advice this autumn, which will include recommendations on the levels of the first three carbon budgets.
	The Government intend to set out the carbon budgets and their plans to meet them next year. Analytical and policy work is being undertaken by Departments and Ministers across Government in preparation for this, under the direction of the Sub-Committee on Environment and Energy of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Development, whose members are listed on the Cabinet Office website.

Departmental Voluntary Work

Mark Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 25 March 2008,  Official Report, column 50W, on voluntary pay, if he will list the organisations for which members of his Departments have volunteered while on special leave.

Angela Eagle: I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the answer I gave to him on 21 April 2008,  Official Report, column 1691W.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will commission research on the experience of other EU member states in operating fuel duty derogations in rural areas.

Angela Eagle: holding answer 19 June 2008
	The Government recognises that high fuel prices—caused by conditions in the global oil market—are having an impact on business and families around the UK. For this reason, the Chancellor deferred the planned fuel duty increase of 2 pence per litre at Budget.
	The Treasury keeps all taxes under review and the Chancellor will consider the case for the planned 2 pence per litre increase on 1 October at that time. The Government are aware of the fuel duty derogations that operate in other EU member states.

Revenue and Customs: Closures

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many members of staff affected by the proposed closure of Truro tax office are to be  (a) relocated,  (b) re-trained and  (c) made redundant.

Jane Kennedy: A decision has not yet been taken on the future of the HMRC office in Truro. HMRC is reviewing all its accommodation to match it to future business needs. On 11 June, it issued proposals for all its offices in Cornwall, including the offices in St. Austell and Truro, both of which are in Mr. Taylor's constituency. At present, there is a proposal to withdraw from Truro, with the exception of the inquiry centre services which will be maintained in the locality, but no decision has been made to close it.
	Consultation on these proposals runs until 6 August, and it is hoped that decisions will be announced before the end of the year.
	Staff relocation and other options will be examined in more detail during the feasibility stage of the consultation.

Tobacco

David Crausby: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of cigarettes sold in the UK in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

Angela Eagle: The total number of cigarettes released for consumption in the UK can be found in Table 2 of the HM Revenue and Customs 'Tobacco Bulletin', which is available from the HM Revenue and Customs website addresses at
	http://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=bulltobacco.
	HM Revenue and Customs do not collect sales data.

Tobacco: Leeds

John Battle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of cigarettes sold in  (a) Leeds West constituency and  (b) Leeds metropolitan district in each of the last five years.

Angela Eagle: HMRC do not have geographic information on cigarette sales.

Children in Care: Missing Persons

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 22 April 2008,  Official Report, columns 2027-8W, on children in care: missing persons, how many of the 3,520 children who went missing from local authority care in the last five years have never been traced.

Kevin Brennan: My answer of 22 April 2008 provided figures on the number of children who went missing from their agreed placement for 24 hours or more during each of the years ending 31 March 2003 to 2007. Those are reproduced in table 1. These figures cannot be aggregated to give the number of children who had gone missing at least once over the five year period. This is because the same child may have gone missing from their agreed placement in more than one year and will be counted in each of those years. Aggregating the data would therefore lead to double counting.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			   Number 
			 2003 990 
			 2004 730 
			 2005 860 
			 2006 890 
			 2007 950 
			  Source: SSDA 903 return on children looked after. 
		
	
	Although it is not possible to derive from this data the number of children who have never been traced, we do collect information on the number of children who were sill missing from their agreed placement at the 31 March each year. These are shown in table 2. The figures for a particular year will, however, include children who went missing in that year and a number of children who first went missing in a previous year. So, again it is not possible to aggregate these figures over any particular time period without double counting.
	
		
			  Table 2 
			   Number 
			 2003 120 
			 2004 120 
			 2005 140 
			 2006 140 
			 2007 160 
			  Source: SSDA 903 return on children looked after. 
		
	
	When a child is reported as "missing" from care; it is essential that the authority works with the police and provides all necessary information so that the child can be located. One of the requirements set out in statutory guidance 'Children Missing from Home and Care—a Guide to Good Practise', issued in 2002, is that each local authority must designate a senior manager to be responsible for monitoring incidents of children missing from care to identify any trends and to investigate any further action necessary to respond to children's needs ensuring that they are properly safeguarded.
	On 26 March we published 'Care Matters: Time to Deliver for Children in Care' which sets out our intention to update and reissue guidance to the Children Act 1989 and subsequent legislation. As part of this we shall be emphasising the responsibilities of local authorities to respond consistently and effectively whenever a child is missing from care.

Children: Day Care

Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 4 June 2008,  Official Report, columns 948-50W, how many and what proportion of daycare settings in the  (a) 15 per cent. most deprived and  (b) 15 per cent. least deprived local authorities are Sure Start centres; and how many and what proportion of the 8.4 per cent. of day care providers deemed inadequate in the 15 per cent. least deprived areas between 2007 and 2008 are Sure Start centres.

Beverley Hughes: The DCSF does not hold this information. The Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, will write to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Library,

Nurseries

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many  (a) private and voluntary independent and  (b) maintained day nurseries there were in London in each year since 1997.

Beverley Hughes: The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects information on the ownership of child care provision; the estimated number and proportion of full day care providers by type of ownership in London in 2006 is shown in table 1 as follows. Data for previous years is not available in the format requested.
	
		
			  Table 1: Ownership of full day care provision in London, 2006 
			   Number  Percentage 
			 Private 1,270 67 
			 Voluntary sector 360 19 
			 Local Authority 130 7 
			 School/college 100 5 
			 Other 60 3 
			  Note: Percentages may not sum to 100 per cent. due to rounding.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of his Department's expenditure on the early years entitlement in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement.

Beverley Hughes: holding answer 16 June 2008
	Payment for the free early education entitlement is made as part of the Dedicated Schools Grant which provides funding for pupils between the ages of three-16. We do not separately identify the amount of funding made available for early years. Local authorities are best placed to determine the most effective use of resources at local level and have discretion over the rate at which they fund settings for delivery of early years provision.
	From September 2010 the free entitlement for three and four year olds will be extended from 12&frac12; to 15 hours per week for 38 weeks per year, and access will be more flexible. A longer and more flexible offer will give parents greater choice in balancing work and family life. This large injection of additional funding emphasises the Government's commitment to ensure that every child gets the best possible start in life. We will invest £80 million in this year, £170 million in 2009-10 and £340 million in 2010-11 to extend the entitlement. Funding levels for the next CSR period (2011-14) are yet to be decided.

Afghanistan: Schools

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what information his Department holds on the number of  (a) primary and  (b) secondary schools in each district of Helmand province, Afghanistan which were open and operating in each of the last eight years.

Douglas Alexander: The Department for Education (DoE) in Helmand collects information on education in Helmand. While data collection has improved recently, historical data is incomplete.
	According to the DoE, there are currently 224 registered schools in Helmand, 29 of them secondary schools. There is one teacher-training college, one agricultural college and one technical college. However, only around 50 of these schools are open and active, three of them secondary schools.
	The breakdown by district is as follows:
	Baghran: six schools open out of 19
	Gereshk: seven schools open out of 23
	Musa Qaleh: one school open out of 19 plus one madrassa
	Nad Ali: five schools open out of 19
	Nawa: three schools open out of 20
	Naw Zad: six schools open out of 20
	Lashkar Gah: 20 schools open out of 27
	Sangin: one school open out of 11
	There are no figures for Garmsir, Dishu, Kaneshin, Kajaki or Washir districts.
	Where schools have closed due to the security situation in Helmand, it is common for informal education to run out of houses or in mosques. Some communities have been seeking to formalise such arrangements as outreach classes connected to hub schools in accordance with the National Strategy for Education, allowing the use of the formal curriculum and textbooks.

East Asia: Poverty

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what estimate his Department has made of the number of people living on less than $1 a day in East Asia.

Douglas Alexander: The Department for International Development (DFID) uses estimates produced by the World Bank. The latest data is from 2004. It shows that 9.9 per cent. of people were living on less than $1 a day in East Asia. More recent data is currently being finalised by the World Bank using new measures of purchasing power generated from the International Comparison Programme.